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Pak-England cricket series confirmed
September 16, 2011
With the wonderful efforts taken by the top management of Pakistan Cricket Board to revive the international cricket arena in the country, after the negotiation with Sri Lankan cricket board very after that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) conformed the cricket schedule against Pakistan to play a complete cricket series including three test matches, four one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches will be held in United Arab Emirates in the first month of next year 2012.
England, which is in very good form right now to outclassed world champion Indian cricket team in the test as well as One Day International matches in United Kingdom to also warn Pakistan that they can beat any one in the world. England outclassed India in test matches by 4-0 to thrashing them in first test by 196 runs, second test by 319 runs, third test by an innings and 242 runs and fourth test an innings and 8 runs. Also in One Day International’s India failed to win a single match out of four matches. Every team has injuries, every team must react to the weather, every team must play home and away - but on balance and over a series of games and over a period of time the better team will show itself and this is statistically represented in the ICC stats as England are clearly currently far better than India.
Pakistan team which currently is busy in Zimbabwe to play the cricket series also produce some good results under the leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq as the won one test as well as three ODI matches. England will have a two-week build-up in the Middle East ahead of their Test series against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi after the dates for the two-month tour, which also includes four one-day internationals and three Twenty20s, were confirmed.
Pakistan has long trip for United Arab Emirates as green shirts first will play the Series against Sri Lanka and then he will play against England. The opposition for England's two warm-up matches have yet to be finalised but with the team coming off a rare period of downtime before Christmas they will be vital preparation ahead of the Test matches which begin in Dubai on January 17. England showed the importance of a proper lead in to a Test series during the Ashes when they had three first-class matches.
England will hope they can find decent quality opposition for the two warm up games as there is no first-class structure in UAE. With the series being a 'home' contest for Pakistan it is the PCB's responsibility to provide opposition.
The second Test then takes place in Abu Dhabi from January 25 before the teams return to Dubai for the final Test on February 3. The one-day series is again shared between the two cities while Dubai will host the first two Twenty20 international before the tour finishes with the final T20 back in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has approved the refurbishment that is under way at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, as the venue is all set to return to hosting international cricket after more than eight years.
Sharjah is set to host the third Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka from November 3, and the fourth One-Day International on November 20. The refurbishment efforts are concentrated on making the Sharjah Cricket Stadium as good as the other two newer venues in the country in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
It is likely that the stadium will host more matches in the future. Waleed Bukhatir, the vice chairman of the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series, which arranges matches at the venue. However, the seating capacity of the stadium may be slightly reduced to about 16,000.
On the other hand Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to tour Bangladesh this year in December for a series which will include two Tests, three one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match.
“Pakistan has not played Bangladesh in a bilateral series since early 2008 as it believed that the Bangladesh board had let it down on many occasions, especially by not supporting Pakistan when the World Cup matches were moved out of the country. But now things seem to have settled down.
“Pakistan board has not been very happy with BCB since 2009 when it cancelled a bilateral one-day series between the two nations to be held in Bangladesh, immediately after the militants attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh’s cricket bodies had remained tense and Bangladesh even refused to send its U-19 team to Pakistan recently and asked for the series to be postponed, which greatly upset the PCB.
“The PCB officials were not satisfied with the reasons given by the Bangladesh board for not sending its team to Pakistan and asking for the series to be postponed to next year,” the source said.
However, both the boards seem to be taking a positive step forward and have put their differences aside to restore cricket ties.
Pak-UK Itinerary
Jan 3 - England depart for UAE
Jan 7-9 - Three-day warm-up match
Jan 11-13 - Three-day warm-up match
Jan 17-21 - 1st Test, Dubai
Jan 25-29 - 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi
Feb 3-7 - 3rd Test, Dubai
Feb 10 - One-day warm-up match, Abu Dhabi
Feb 13 - 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi
Feb 15 - 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
Feb 18 - 3rd ODI, Dubai
Feb 21 - 4th ODI, Dubai
Feb 23 - 1st T20, Dubai
Feb 25 - 2nd T20, Dubai
Feb 27 - 3rd T20, Dubai
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